April 22, 2005

Schizophrenia & Brain Development

Schizophrenia, Emotion and Cognition linked to the developing brain and Serotonin levels

It was reported recently in the Proceedings of the National Sciences, that cognition and emotion may depend on tightly controlled serotonin levels in the developing brain, according to a newly published study.

Altered levels of serotonin, the brain's "feel-good" chemical transmitter, underlie disorders ranging from addiction to schizophrenia. Louis Sokoloff and colleagues examined the brain pathway from the whiskers to sensory processing in mice lacking a protein that transports serotonin. Lacking this transporter is hypothesized to lead to elevated serotonin levels in the brain.

The researchers stimulated individual whiskers and found that the mice displayed decreased brain activity. These deficits were prevented by administering inhibitors of serotonin synthesis shortly after birth, suggesting that the deficits are due to abnormally high levels of serotonin in the brain during development.

The results illustrate the importance of serotonin in the developing brain and imply that disturbances in proper serotonin levels may lead to long-lasting functional and behavioral abnormalities.